Interim Management

Author(s): Romain Brossault Rmi Jaussoin Leadership and Management in International Context Tutor: Prof. Dr. Philippe Daudi Subject: Business Administration Level and semester: Master's thesis, Spring 2010

Acknowledgements
We wish to thank first and foremost our professor Dr. Philippe Daudi, he has guided our research at the right time by sharing his suggestions. He has been always available for intensive and rational discussions. For his confidence and his support during the process of the thesis, we are deeply grateful to him.

Secondly, we would like to express our great gratefulness to the help of Thomas Starkloff, Consultant and Interim Manager, who has provided us a lot of information.

We also want to express our gratitude to Murielle Veuriot, Olivier Martineau and Laurent Juery, that we interviewed for this study. They gave us their valuable time and we have advanced thanks to their contribution to knowledge and experiences on the ground.

These interviews of professionals would not have been possible without the grant; therefore we want to thank Linnaeus University as well as our tutor the professor Dr. Philippe Daudi for this financial support.

Then, we want to say thanks to Damien Brossault for his comments since the prior drafts of this manuscript.

Last but not least, we are thankful for Francine Ppin who helped us to improve our English in our Thesis.

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Abstract
The economic context changes, companies adapt and recruitment evolves. As future managers and leaders, or simply new actors in the working environment, this is our duty to be aware of the demand of the market. The economic situation has a huge impact on the recruitment and this more so in a crisis period (Aswegen, 2009). In order to respond of the need of flexibility, facing crisis situation or simply facing the need of change, Interim Management seems to correspond to this request or is at least one of the tools that companies can take into consideration. During the previous phase of our thesis, we realized that only a few people were aware of this promising concept of management. It became a challenge for us, we wanted to know more about this topic and to write a paper in order to share the knowledge that we would gather through the process of depicting this emerging phenomenon called Interim Management while remaining objective. During our research and interviews, we met recruitment consultants, Interim Managers, and corporate human resources directors; all of these meetings helped us to understand companies needs and what they expect when hiring Interim Managers. Our thesis aims at explaining and depicting the emerging concept of Interim Management in order to give our vision of the reality.

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Table of content
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................II Abstract .............................................................................................................................................III 1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background ...............................................................................................................................2 1.2 Problem Analysis .......................................................................................................................3 1.3 Aim of the thesis .......................................................................................................................3 1.4 The research question ...............................................................................................................4 1.5 Structure of the thesis ...............................................................................................................4 2 Methodology....................................................................................................................................5 2.1 Overview of the Analytical approach .........................................................................................6 2.2 Collecting data and Analyzing data ............................................................................................6 2.3 Case study research...................................................................................................................7 3 Leadership Skills...............................................................................................................................8 3.1 The need of certain power and ability to influence ....................................................................8 3.2 The need of creating trust .........................................................................................................9 3.3 The importance of communication .......................................................................................... 10 3.4 Decision-making ...................................................................................................................... 11 3.5 The capacity of adaptability/flexibility ..................................................................................... 11 3.6 The importance of the technical Skills ..................................................................................... 12 4 Interim Management phenomenon ................................................................................................. 13 4.1 Context ................................................................................................................................... 13 a) b) c) d) e) Interim Management age .................................................................................................. 14 Line of business (Sector) ................................................................................................... 15 Domain of intervention of Managers .................................................................................. 15 Positions of Interim Managers ........................................................................................... 17 Duration/ frequency of the mission .................................................................................... 18

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f) g)

Threats .............................................................................................................................. 19 Future of the Interim Management ..................................................................................... 20

4.2 Interim Managers profile ........................................................................................................ 22 a) Interim Manager .................................................................................................................... 22 b) Recruitment comparison........................................................................................................ 26 4.3 Interim Management strenghts ............................................................................................... 27 a) Interim Managers advantages - Why work as an interim manager? ....................................... 28 b) The necessity of using Interim Management .......................................................................... 28 c) Clients advantages ................................................................................................................. 29 d) Surplus value of Interim Managers ........................................................................................ 30 e) Surplus value of the Interim Managers Services Providers ..................................................... 32 4.4 Contractual aspect .................................................................................................................. 35 4.4.1 Contractual relation between the Interim Manager and the Provider ............................... 35 4.4.2 Other contractual commitments between the Interim Manager and the Provider.............. 37 4.4.3 Relation between the Interim Manager Services Provider and the Client ........................... 38 4.4.4 Fees charged and income .................................................................................................. 38 4.4.5 Research of missions ........................................................................................................ 40 4.5 Steps / Phases / Mission development .................................................................................... 40 4.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 42 5 Case study ..................................................................................................................................... 43 5.1 Case description ...................................................................................................................... 43 5.2 Three actors ............................................................................................................................ 44 5.3 Why Interim Management?..................................................................................................... 44 5.4 Chronological briefing of the situation ..................................................................................... 45 5.5 Analysis of the case ................................................................................................................. 45 a) Diagnosis phase .................................................................................................................... 45 b) Observation phase ................................................................................................................. 46

c) Action phase ......................................................................................................................... 47 d) Feedbacks ............................................................................................................................. 47 5.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 48 6 General analysis ............................................................................................................................. 49 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 49 6.2 Interim Managers leadership skills ......................................................................................... 49 6.2.1 Interim Manager / Power .................................................................................................. 49 6.2.2 Interim Manager / Trust .................................................................................................... 50 6.2.3 Interim Manager / Communication ................................................................................... 51 6.2.4 Interim Manager / Decision-making.................................................................................. 51 6.2.5 Interim Manager / Adaptability and Flexibility.................................................................. 52 6.2.6 Interim Manager / Technical skills .................................................................................... 52 6.3 The outcome of the case studied ............................................................................................. 53 6.3.1 Choice of Interim Management ......................................................................................... 53 6.3.2 The profile of the Interim Manager ................................................................................... 54 6.3.3 Why work as an Interim Manager ..................................................................................... 54 6.3.4 The different steps of the mission ..................................................................................... 54 6.3.5 The client advantage ......................................................................................................... 54 6.4 Case studied / Leadership skills ............................................................................................... 55 6.5 Several issues .......................................................................................................................... 55 a) The Interim Managements recognizance .............................................................................. 55 b) Markets growth .................................................................................................................... 55 c) Projects mode ...................................................................................................................... 56 7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 56 7.1 Recommendations for futures researches ............................................................................... 57 References........................................................................................................................................ 59

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1 Introduction
Why an experienced manager, neither past nor future in your organization will be in certain cases a better choice to handle a project than an intern manager selected and trained by the human resources of your company? (Starkloff & Briere, 2010, p.1) Nowadays companies and their leaders are under increasing pressure, challenging their operating habits. The world spins faster, forcing companies to react immediately to the context that surrounds them. Companies operate more and more in just in time and this also concerns Human Resources. For example, in term of recruitment, manager expects Human Resources department to provide a list of candidates only three weeks after the managers wish. This is objectively not really realistic. Companies have difficulties facing unplanned and sudden changes. Insecurity and uncertainty develop more and more. While companies previously could establish their strategies and action plans on three to five years, they must now expect the unexpected. Their ability to anticipate is limited even when it comes to human resources. The need for reactivity is growing, at the same time as the need for flexibility. In order to keep competitive advantage, a company needs to act before its competitors; however this company may not necessarily have the skills and the competences available. Companies became more aware of new cultures, new competences in the 70/80s, while they encouraged the intern-know (Starkloff & Briere, 2010). Organizations thus face a threefold challenge: Responsiveness, Flexibility and Security. This is in this context that Interim Management has developed. Indeed, organizations, in case of an emergency, are driven to seek skills and operational resources immediately but they may not have those competences within the company, or those skills could already be used for another project. In addition to routine management, companies face different types of issues contributing to their survival or expansion: mergers, acquisitions, reorganization, cost control (Russell & Daniell, 2005). For this, they operate in project mode, disrupting the flow chart. Indeed, operating in project mode instead of hierarchical mode sometimes involves injecting in the company external competences in adequacy with the strategies and the need of the company. Moreover, depending on the nature and complexity of the project, they do not always have sufficient resources to control them. The demand of immediately operational competences makes the recourse to long integrations process hard when the profile expected does not exist internally (Starkloff & Briere, 2010). Thus, they are sometimes calling for an
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Interim Manager often qualified as an expert in a specific sector, to implement this project, manage the crisis or lead the inevitable change. The interim manager is therefore given - for a period determined - the reins of all or part of an organization or project (Russell & Daniell, 2005).

1.1 Background
The need for labor time has always existed, however it is only in the early 20 th century that people began to talk of temporary work, also called interim work. Previously, interim work was only for the manufacturing industry. The interim worker offered his services for a salary. Until recently the interim suffered from a stereotyping image. It was associated with unskilled work (Russell & Daniell, 2005). However, nowadays the mindset has evolved and, as a consequence, the interim work is reaching the top management and all executives positions. Nevertheless the principle stays the same: the Interim Manager does not offer his arms but his brain. This is a fact that nowadays the interim reaches top positions in companies (Rawat, 2009). The Interim Manager lends his savoir faire and his competences for a wage. The difference between a basic interim and the Interim Manager is that the Interim Manager has much more freedom to elaborate his strategy; he is an agent for innovation whereas the traditional interim worker just had to obey and to follow orders (Russel & Daniell, 2005). The Interim Management was found in the United States and the Netherlands in the 1970s. At that time, for companies in these countries, to call upon consultant agencies in order to adapt their strategies to the new opportunities of the market was a habit (Rawat, 2009). Nevertheless, the problem came when it was time to put into action the previous work done by consultants. To have recourse to external managers able to work in an emergency situation appeared to be a solution. It has gradually spread in European countries and in France for ten years. But it has become a real boom over the past three years due to two phenomena. Firstly, the number of seniors has increased and become a bigger part of the workforce. Many of seniors became unemployed (early retirement or dismissal) at the age of fifty when they wanted to continue their profession. They are therefore turning to entrepreneurship, consulting or Interim Management to make their skills available to businesses. Secondly, the spread of Interim Management in Europe is mostly due to international consulting and recruitment firms that they established by creating specialized structures in Interim Management. They then imported this concept and contributed to its deployment (Starkloff & Briere, 2010).

Given the uncertainties that the crisis has created we observe every day that French companies are interested in flexible external expertise while many former executives now consider Interim Management as a real opportunity to continue their careers. It is also important to remember that Interim Management is one of the tools amongst others that companies can use. However, many companies succeed without having to call upon this kind of services by simply using their own skills, their resources and their strategy.

1.2 Problem Analysis

Interim Management is a borderless concept. We observe that only a few people are aware of this emerging phenomenon and that there is no clear definition of Interim Management. There are several different interpretations, and this lack of unification damages the profession. Interim Management is a broad topic and is multifaceted. Interim Management is more than a basic temporary job; this concept includes the need of precious competences and skills in adaptation. Managing in time of change or crisis is a difficult process, and leaders have to make the right choice in a very fast way. In this case Interim Management could be one option to resolve the problem. Thus what we want to do is to write a clear paper which gives the main principles and the key in order to understand this rising phenomenon.

1.3 Aim of the thesis

As explained in the introduction, our thesis aims to depict the emerging concept of Interim Management in France. Due to the nature of its complexity and ambiguity, we need to develop our creation of knowledge; it will lead us to a deep understanding of this concept. Our primary objective is to understand the concept of Interim Management and then we want to create our definition in order to border this concept. Therefore the topic of our thesis is significant. Our thesis aims also to explain the relationship between the three actors, the company, the Interim Manager and the recruitment consultant. This complex relationship will be illustrated by the analysis of a case, and with several interviews. Our goal is also to define the French economic context where Interim Management takes place, and to describe in which situation Leaders or Human Resources Directors called for an Interim Manager.

1.4 The research question

According to Strauss and Corbin (1990), the research question is the starting point to carry out a qualitative research. Given the purposes and intentions of this study, its guiding research question is presented as follows: How to explain and depict the emerging concept of Interim Management? This research question reflects the overall intention of our thesis. In our thesis we focus on the process of hiring an Interim Manager. We explain all the different steps taken to recognize that the company needs an Interim Manager and the feedback following the end of his/her mission. We also wanted to explore tools and strategies that the Interim Manager uses while resolving problems or leading projects within the company. Therefore we will also use theoretical frameworks in order to highlight the ability and the competences that the Interim Manager must hold. Another step is to explore the What, Whom, Why. What is the Interim Management, where does it come from? Who could be an Interim Manager; here we will depict the general profile of these senior executives. Why calling for an Interim Manager, we want to examine the issues that companies are facing and analyze why this concept could be sometimes useful for them.

1.5 Structure of the thesis

We would like to present the structure of the thesis in order to provide the reader with an overall view of the design of our study. The first Chapter of the thesis is a concise introduction to the reason behind the research and the analysis of the problem. The aim of the thesis and the research question are also defined. The second Chapter deals with the explanation of the methodology chosen. A brief introduction of the analytical approach will be given. We will also describe the methodology we have used during the process of the case studys research. Chapter threes objective is to present our topic and to place it in relation with our Masters Leadership and Management in International Context. Many of the theories we have learned during this Master correspond with the Interim Management profession. Thus we will present
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to the reader some leadership skills which seem important for a leader as well as for an Interim Manager. Then, based on our interviews and the data we collected and analyzed, Chapter four will provide a deeper description of this phenomenon we call Interim Management. The reader will have a better understanding of what are the missions, the roles and the limits of Interim Managers according to the professionals and researchers. Chapter five is a case study of the company Weishardt near Toulouse. It consists of a brief description of the company followed by the study of an Interim Manager a qualified Chief Accountant called to replace the previous employee away on maternity leave. After having given the reader a description of the Interim Management, this case study will show how and what was happening on the field thanks to the actual experience of the Interim Manager. In Chapter six, the reader will find our analysis, our own point of view on this new concept that is called Interim Management by taking into consideration the previous chapters. The leadership skills described, the data collected from professionals and researchers, and the case studied will help us to build our own vision and to give the reader our general analysis of this concept now available to companies. The final chapter, Chapter seven, presents the conclusion we draw from our study. It is a synthesis of our research, which ends with suggestions for further, more in-depth research.

2 Methodology
The focus of our thesis work is to explore the phenomenon of Interim Management. In order to get a clear understanding of what Interim Management is, we will read articles and books in order to build a theoretical framework. We also believe that the best way to understand the reality is to go in the field and to interview professionals who are involved with this profession on a day-to-day basis (recruitment consultants, Interim Managers, and companies). Furthermore, to understand the process of hiring an Interim Manager and to understand his mission within the company, we choose to focus on the study of a case. The term methodology refers to the system in which we handle problems and look for answers. According to Gustavsson (1992), knowledge involves three inseparable elements which are the process of knowing, the knower and the known. In order to gain the known
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(outcome of the research), the knower (researcher) must employ the process of knowing, which is the methodology of the research. Therefore, the analytical view, which is the methodology chosen to conduct this thesis, will be explained in this chapter.

2.1 Overview of the Analytical approach

The Analytical view is a positivist approach. It is used in order to explain the reality. The Analytical approach is required in order to study the relation between cause and effects and understand the interaction there is between both. The Analytical view is based on hypothesis, in order to make this hypothesis possible; we must study in details the nature of the interaction of cause and effects. However reality is created by objective and subjective facts. Objective facts are the strict transcription from the reality whereas subjective facts are more influenced from the background of the creator of knowledge. As a consequence the reality is factive (Arbnor & Bjerke, 2009). In this approach there are three types of analytical studies, the explorative, the descriptive and the explanatory phase. The choice is depending on the goal of the study. Each of this study must be introduced by a clear picture of the dilemma (Arbnor & Bjerke, 2009). Analytical view is constantly focused on facts. The first action is to collect the facts, and then to explain the reality with the help of those facts. There are two process in order to collect data in this approach .The first one is to collect primary information which are direct observations and interviews. The second process is to collect secondary information. The Analytical approach uses primary information in addition to secondary information. These both processes are complementary. Analytical view is used to explore, to describe and to explain (Arbnor & Bjerke, 2009).

2.2 Collecting data and Analyzing data

In order to conduct this collect, we choose to do it from an explorers perspective. The explorer does not know what results he will reach. He does not know what he will find and does not have to anticipate it. It should be a total discovery. He will only have some basic preconceptions (Fisher, 2004). To be an explorer during this study will well respond to our research question.

From the interview and the panel to the questionnaire and observation, it covers the different methods used by researchers. It introduces both the differences and the main point of each one depending on the kind of research. In this part, it is important to take into consideration the structure approach of these methods. All these methods use a different degree of structure depending of what kind of answer the researcher desires. Thus, in this chapter, it is important to take care about the degree of openness or pre-coding of questions. It is also important that whatever the researcher uses between either open or semi-structured approach, there is still a need to plan and organize the research methods. Therefore we did some preliminary work in order to know how to hold an interview in good conditions, how and why a technique uses a stronger structure than others, what are the characteristics of each method and what are the conditions to success in these approaches (Fisher, 2004). The data that has been collected can be divided into two categories: primary information and secondary information. Primary data are the direct information. The researcher can gather the information from people or organizations directly through interview and observation (Arbnor & Bjerke, 2009). The primary information we have used are personal interviews, telephone interviews and mail questionnaire. The secondary data refer to the material previously collected. The secondary information used in our thesis is books, articles, and newspapers amongst others. The importance of secondary data must be highlight because it is a useful source in order to get a further insight and to answer our research question (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009). In order to create an ordered analysis of the data gathered from the Interviews, we have developed its evaluation using as reference the concepts and main categories that will be presented in the theoretical framework in order to sort out the information obtained. Theoretical aspects have been allocated in relation with the category they intend to study.

2.3 Case study research

An interesting case study is more than just a depiction. The reader must feel the first sensation that the researcher had when he first started the case study. And this is the way we choose to write the case study. We do not want to give all the answers and the consequences in the first line. We want to create a suspense situation and to make the reader involved in the process of resolving the dilemma. We want the reader to experience the crisis situation and to have all the details of the environment in order to be as close to the reality as possible.

Our case study will be divided into three parts. First the description of the environment which will give all the details needed to have a clear picture of the situation. Secondly, the analysis phase, where we will give all the options that the company had and explain all the reasons for their choice. At last, we will write the conclusion and the feedback from those interviewed and their point of view about this situation. We have now presented to the reader the subject, the objective and the methodology chosen to conduct our Thesis. It seemed important for the reader to know how our Thesis is built in order to anticipate what he/she is going to both read and learn. So, thanks to this information the reader knows the different steps in our Thesis. The following allows us to get to the heart of the subject.

3 Leadership Skills
Companies are often facing the need for change, the need for adaptation or the need for transition. This sometimes requires a change in management. Leadership knowledge and skill are needed to implement changes. The leadership style and the leaders behavior are the preconditions to get a successful change. Successful implementation and management of change depends on the leadership style. One of the most difficult tasks is implementing and managing change, which requires the leaders to have certain personal trait (Drucker, 1999). Leaders are expected to have versatility and skills, adjust leadership style to the situation and the staff, and demonstrate efficient behavioral patterns (Martincic, 2010). The leadership traits take an important role in times of change and that depending of their leadership traits; their companies could or not overcome these periods of change. So, before coming to Interim Management where Interim Managers may require some leadership traits to conduct their missions, it seems important to study and define the skills that are needed by leaders to conduct the business of a company in a good direction.

3.1 The need of certain power and ability to influence

According to Yukl (2005), leaders need a certain power to be efficient but at the same time it does not mean that the more power a leader has the better he will lead. Power does not have to be used continuously, the better leader will be the one who will be able to use it at the right time by concentrating this power efficiently on crucial objectives. Certain leadership situations, such as the requirement for change for a determined period, involve more power as
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well as influence than other situations. Thus, the one who uses his power by demonstrating loyalty to the company and competences in solving task problems and making task decisions will be the most successful (Yukl, 2005).

3.2 The need of creating trust

According to the book Leadership & Confiance from Alain Deluc (2008), the leader needs to create trust in order to carry out his functions. The confidence and performance have a strong bond. It is the role of the leader to reach the highest performance. Therefore he succeeds in creating confidence amongst others. The confidence stems from the emotional climate established by the leader in his relations with others. Credibility creates part of the confidence. It is mainly based on the evidence of the competence of the leader when he has to guide his team, to conduct his business or manage a particular expertise. The leader maintains his credibility by continually cultivating skills and knowledge. The more successful missions the leader has in his background, the stronger is his credibility, the more people will trust him to lead them. The trust is not a priori, and neither permanently, but it is built according to several principles: the awareness, the openness or transparency, the capacity of choice, and the involvement. (Deluc, 2008) As the motto of our master explains "The Art of Leading the Other Comes from the Art of Leading Oneself. To be successful in leading a company, a leader must first know himself, and understand his behavior, his feelings, his strengths, and his weaknesses. The selfknowledge and the understanding of others are important for a leader in order to know him and to guide him while undertaking the reins of a company. The more leaders are selfconfident, the more they will be in confidence with the others (Deluc, 2008). The concept of choice is fundamental because trust is developing when people can act by themselves. As an individual, I am self confident if I am aware that I can influence my environment. The more workers are aware of the objectives, the direction to take, and the road ahead and the reason for the change, the more they will mobilize themselves. In order to build the confidence, it is useful and important that employees are aware of their possibility of choices. If people think they can not choose, or if they really have no choice, if they are forced, then the confidence will be very low. Leaders must know that to mobilize all people in the company, they should share the power. Workers need power to make the crucial decisions at their level. Furthermore, the degree of involvement also takes an important part. When an

individual feels involved, he/she will invest his/her energy to fulfill his/her mission (Deluc, 2008). These different values are leading to the trust and are creating an interactive coherent system. The involvement of people in the company is easier in a transparent company with confidence between each other. Followers are more involved when developing and increasing their capacity for choice. (Deluc, 2008)

3.3 The importance of communication

In order to make things happening in the right direction, we often hear that communication is an important aspect. According to Rees & Porter (2001), when problems of communication exist, the whole system of something can be affected. Moreover, accuracy in decisionmaking depends, in particular, on effective communication (Rees & Porter, 2001, p.162). Leaders spend a lot of time to communicate with others but it is also vital to ensure communication back from others to the leader (Rees & Porter, 2001). As it is written in the book The Handbook of Project-based Management from Turner (1999), it is important to communicate from the top to the bottom as well as from the bottom to the top. It is important to win the support and cooperation from the co-workers because sometimes it is the one at the bottom of the line who knows more about the on-going progress of a certain project (Turner, 1999). There is no comunication if the leader conceives it as a one way relation. Communication is not an available concept for organizations but instead it is the mode itself of the organization (Drucker, 2001). Thus, the use of communication skills can lead to important recurring benefits (Rees & Porter, 2001). Communication skills come into the Interpersonal skills. Indeed, empathy, charm, social insight, tact and diplomacy, persuasiveness as well as oral communication ability are essential to develop and maintain cooperative relationship(Yukl, 2005, p.200). The leader who uses communication skills as well as listening skills will ensure a better cooperative relationship than a leader who is insensitive and unpleasant. Then, good communication between the stakeholders will help to ensure task objectives (Yukl, 2005).

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3.4 Decision-making
Leaders have to take a number of decision that provide variable consequences. The general qualities of these decisions are often determinant for the organizations results. This decisionmaking process could be summarized by the choice between different options faced by the leader. In case of problem to solve or opportunity to take, the red line for a leader is first to identify the situation then to take a solution and finally to evaluate his efficiency. In fact, the leader has to take a picture of the current situation and to envisage a situation expected. For that, he will select different options by analysing each one. Then he will bring one of them out in order to turn it into action (Robbins, Decenzo & Gabilliet, 2008). Decision-making is an important skill for career success generally and effective leadership more specifically. When leaders know how to make appropriate and well-considered decisions, they will then get a better chance to provide for their team and companies an impressive and well-deserved success (Drucker, 2001).

3.5 The capacity of adaptability/flexibility

All over the world leaders are constantly or at least often facing change in their working life. It could be a new culture, new colleagues, a new job or a new market. More than the previous generations, leaders are now facing more challenges in business and leadership. Taking into consideration the quantity of information and the rapid change of things, people in general are constantly trying to do their best to adapt to the changes taking place every day. Thus, it appears to be the same for leaders where adaptability is a leadership imperative because without the ability to face change, a leader previously seen as successful and full of potential is likely not to be perceived as such anymore. Adaptability is important for a leaders effectiveness and success, especially in time of change (Calarco & Gurvis, 2006, p.9). Moreover, because companies are developing and implementing new systems and processes, leaders need also to adapt in terms of skills. Even worse, if on the contrary they are rigid or inadaptable they will, in addition to being unable to face change, discourage subordinates or colleagues to develop their potential skill of adaptability. Thus, in order to provide a good result or at least to be able to integrate a new situation, leaders should be able to adapt themselves to new situations (Calarco & Gurvis, 2006).

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3.6 The importance of the technical Skills

It is important to possess some technical skills in order to conduct specialized activities (Yukl, 2005). It includes knowledge about an organization itself such as rules, structure, management systems but also knowledge about the product and/or services of an organization. In a general aspect, an expertise power could also be based on functional areas such as marketing, finance; technologies and geographic areas (De Wit & Meyer, 2005). Thanks to their work experience and training, leaders will develop these skills by having a good memory for detail and the ability to learn rapidly. Thus, a successful leader should be able to get information from many sources and store it away in their memory for use when they need it (Yukl, 2005, p.113). The technical skills on a product or process are important to prepare a work operation, to lead a team and to evaluate it. Thus, before implementing change, before turning knowledge into action, it is important to get a sufficient number of technical skills. Knowledge and information are obviously crucial to performance (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000, p.243).

In this chapter, we saw a number of leaderships traits that sometimes help leaders to conduct their employees in the right direction in order to perform efficiently for the company. It is important to remember that depending of these traits, which can be more or less similar from one leader to another, the good health of the company has a better chance to be ensured for a long run. Here, the readers have seen different leadership traits. Nevertheless, it is important to remind the readers that others skill exist, and can contribute to the success of a leader such as the sense-making, the charisma, the legitimacy and so on. In our topic, we chose those which we consider as the main important talents for an Interim Manager. We first wanted to introduce these traits because the success of a company often depends on the one who takes decisions by implementing them toward the culture and the employees of the company. So this chapter introduces the next one where a complete description of the Interim Management has been done thanks to the data we collected. Through this description, the reader will better understand what this profession is about and will see what kind of skills are important for Interim Managers in order to ensure the success of their missions in the best conditions.

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4 Interim Management phenomenon 4.1 Context

Today in France, the turnover of this activity is evaluated by the profession at more than 200 million Euros but could in the future reach 350 million Euros. 50% of the market and missions are undertaken by independent Interim Managers but the current demand, especially in terms of involvement, security and responsibilities lead managers to contract missions from Interim Manager Services Providers (Carpentier, 2009). Thus, the evolutions perspectives of this market seem important. According to some sources, the growth rate varies between 20% and 25% per year since the 80s in France (Calbry, 2008). Companies and organizations are more than ever in search of flexibility and efficiency for their structure. Companies are facing complex situations at the fiscal, social and governance level. Moreover, the emergency of situations is important. Thus, to treat them, companies may call upon experts. In many cases, the Interim Manager seems to be perfectly adapted to these evolutions and represents an answer for companies in need (AFMDT, 2010). In France, there are about ten well known agencies amongst thirty others and about 5000 to 7000 Interim Managers (Calbry, 2008). In France, the industry represents the biggest sector where Interim Managers perform (60%) while the 40% remain concerned with the retail and services sector (AFMDT 2010).

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a) Interim Management age

According to lemanagementdetransition.com (2009), the Interim Management phenomenon is quite old because a number of managers (47%) practice this profession for more than five years. Furthermore, this phenomenon knows a recent growth due to both a better understanding of its existence and the growth of the number of seniors who either have to or want to continue to practice their professional activity.

Since how long have you been Interim Manager ?

30 25 20 15 10 5 0
1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 - 9 years 10-14 years 15-19 years 20 years and more

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

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b) Line of business (Sector)

All sectors are concerned with Interim Management but at the moment industry represents the biggest client sector (60%). Indeed, industries who first call an interim manager belong to the following sectors: engineering industry, consumer goods, car industry, and the food processing industry. The remaining 40% concern retail, service sector and others sectors such as transport, business, retailing (AFMDT, 2010). The main part concerns the industry sector but the public and non lucrative sectors are becoming more and more import. Small and medium sized companies also begin to employ the services of Interim Managers to conduct different missions. (Coudray, 2008)

In what sector did you realize your last three missions ? ?

12 10 8 6 4 2 0
ind Co us ns try um er go od Ca s ri nd Ho us us try eh old Int er go me od dia s te go od s En er Co gy ns tru cti on Tr ad e Tr an sp Fin or t an cia la re Se a Re rv al ice es st tat oc e om Ed pa uc nie ati s on /H ea lth Di str ibu tio En n vir on Av me iat nt ion ind us try To ur ism Se cu rit y Ch em ist ry Ar ma Ne w me tec nt hn olo gie s Ot he rs

Fo od

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

c) Domain of intervention of Managers

The fields of intervention are often depending on the position occupied (CEO, CRHO). However, the repartition is quite adjusted. Even if the Turnaround and reorganization missions (30%) represent a lot due to the historical and economic reasons, 38% of the missions concern project management or development (Valtus, 2010).

15

Thus, the Interim Manager guides the organization for a period of change or a specific project such as: Turnarounds and reorganization, Managing subsidiaries for an overseas parent, Project management : strategy change, listing, Crisis management, Management gap, Improving business performance : introduction of new technologies, new information system, Diversification and new business start-ups, Externalization, divestments, closures, Strategic repositioning or relaunch of businesses, Profit improvement, Mergers, acquisitions.

What kind of mission did you realize ?

11%

21%
Replacement Project

30% 20% 18%

development restructuration Others

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

16

d) Positions of Interim Managers

Positions held by managers interviewed are varied but the CFO and CRHO positions are largely before the others with 21% each. This appears to be due to the wish for reorganization and for costs control. This situation should quickly move to a stronger generalization towards the other positions of the executive committee (Carpentier, 2009). Moreover, the French Organisation of Interim Management (AFMDT, 2010) said that Interim Managers can take up the executive functions located at the top of the firm but can also take up the functions of the middle manager as well as the simple control of a project. Interim Managers are not especially devoted at the top of the executive committee.

During your last three missions, what position did you hold ?
30 25 20 15 10 5 0

ar ia ry y 'd ire ct io n

FO

an ag er Su IT pp M an ly ag ch er ai n M an Ex ag Sa po er le rt s /In M te an rn ag at er io na Pr lM od a. uc M .. tio is si n on M an /P ag ro je er ct M O an pe ag ra tio er n M an ag er

fic

ec re t

R H

ea

al s

G en er

bs id

Su

Pu rc

ha se

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

17

O th

of

er

e) Duration/ frequency of the mission

The average duration of missions is slightly more than eight months. More often, according to these interviews, missions run between six and twelve months. This explains the number of missions on two years. Indeed, during this period, almost 50% of managers hold only one or two missions and around 40% between two and four missions (Carpentier, 2009).

How many missions did you realize on a two-year period ?

50 40 30 20 10 0 Between 1 & 2 Between 2 & 4 More than 4

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

What was the average duration of your mission during these last two years ?

More than 12 months Between 9 & 12 months Between 6 & 9 months Less than 6 months 0 10 20 30 40

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

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f) Threats
According to the interviews made by Aurelie Carpentier in collaboration with lemanagementdetransition.com (2009), a few threats can damage the image of the Interim Management. Especially when companies that try to implement this profession in their own organization without being sufficiently aware to its characteristics. Thus, the lack of acknowledgment, the absence of reglementation, the lack of professionalism for certain agencies, the deeper selection of Managers profiles proposed to companies are enough to damage the image of this profession and constitute a threat if no solutions are quickly found (Carpentier, 2009).

Why do you think that the Interim Management market is in jeopardy ?

Lack of Acknowledgment

8% 14% 27%
Absence of reglementation

lack of professionalism

14% 37%

Intern resources

Others

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

19

g) Future of the Interim Management

According to the 70 managers interviewed in 2009 by lemanagerdetransition.com, Interim Managers consider that this market is promising for many reasons such as structural reasons (Flexibility Reactivity) and economics (crisis). However, few of them think that the lack of juridical frame and notoriety of this profession constitute a risk.

According to you, what is the future of the Interim Management in France ?

YES NO

100 50

DNP

0 Promising Threated
Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

20

Interim Managers think that the need for expertise and the necessary change to bring in the methods of management of few firms are the predominant factors of this markets growth. Also, the lack of internal resources, the crisis management, the complexity of missions as well as the availability, the flexibility, the external view of an expert, the profile and the managers costs constitute the main reasons for calling upon Interim Managers (Carpentier, 2009).

What are the elements that makes you think that this market is promising?

Needs of firms Management of firms Crisis context Globalization Others context Attractive costs Determined and limited duration Lack of intern resources Flexibility External view Manager's profile Nature of the mission Others

10

15

20

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

21

4.2 Interim Managers profile

a) Interim Manager An Interim Manager is a highly experienced executive, mandated by shareholders or leaders, often having worked not only at functional but also at operational level. He or she is both an autonomous leader and a project manager who brings his/her skills for a limited period of time in order to solve a situation and/or conduct a strategic project (AFMDT, 2010; lemanagementdetransition.com, 2010). In average he/she is between 50 and 60 years old and has worked for more than 10 years as a leader (Middle manager head of a program) with high responsibilities (CEO, CFO, CCO, CRH) (Pompe & Brchot, 2008). To be more credible he/she should ideally have worked in large International companies with a multicultural aspect, which is often necessary. After having retired or been fired, he/she still wishes to practise in a professional activity (lemanagementdetransition.com, 2010).

The Interim Manager is called by companies in need for a fixed period where goals are well defined. He will become for a short term the main actor for change. Everyone cannot succeed at being an Interim Manager. An Interim Manager should possess three qualities which are technical competence, managerial competence, as well as technical know-how in exceptional situations. The third one is often the most absent in the majority of curriculum vitae. Moreover, communication skill plays an important role because it allows the client to be confident in the manager who applied (Dumoulin, 2008). An Interim Manager has to be modest and humble towards employees already in position. This is the first rule in order to work as an Interim Manager (Sve, 2009). Then, in order to stay for a substantial period of time as an Interim Manager, certain characteristic and qualities are required. The wish for independence

The first characteristic for an Interim Manager is to be independent, an autonomous temperament where the wish to limit the hierarchical restrictions of a company is desired. Even if the companys environment gives some comfortable situations, the Interim Manager can do without it in order to make a new start, work for himself, and create his own company to achieve the more valuable wish: Freedom (Coudray, 2007).

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The love for change

An Interim Manager does not like routine, comfortable situations already established. He is curious, likes novelty, does not want to look like everyone by simply towing the line. He possesses the capacity to rethink an established situation that he could not express in his old experiences. He comes from logic of professional status to logic of involvement. His deeper motives are the acknowledgment of his skills and his capacity to lead a precise and often difficult mission. (Coudray, 2007)

A confirmed experience and expertise

The Interim Manager should be experienced, possessing a strong generalist expertise (Team manager, Management of a profits centre) or specialized (Financial, industrial, commercial). Depending on the context of the mission, he will either bring to the customer his own experience of the economics sectors where he has already worked in the past or his own experience of the concerned function (or both in certain cases) (Coudray, 2007). Interim Managers cannot solve problems if they have not seen approximately the same situation before. In that case having white hair is still an advantage (Pompey, 2008, p3). Thus, the operational experience and the past knowledge acquired into companies are important. A traditional Interim Management has at least 10 to 15 years of work experience. This includes executive position and ideally, on an international level within large companies. (Pompe & Brchot, 2008)

A different approach of the relation at the workplace

The Interim Manager is not focused on the wish to make a career in the firm but rather on results and making things happen. The goal is to be glad to be going to the workplace each morning in order to work on a mission with passion. He does not want to accomplish the strict minimum for each task to keep his position in the firm for alimentary reasons for example. He discovers the pleasure of not having to face a boss anymore but instead a client. Even if respect still remains obligatory, the relation is completely different (Coudray, 2007). Dialogue is more equal; frankness is easier and allows saying everything useful to be said instead of

23

keeping ideas in mind because of being afraid of putting in jeopardy either the next promotion or pay rise. (Pompey, 2008)

A real capacity for leadership

Because the Interim Manager is an external actor, he should possess charisma and leadership or at least (for the expertise missions) a real capacity for both assertiveness and firmness about his convictions. The emergency of situations does not allow someone hesitant with a lack of confidence to both reassure the client and create change (Coudray, 2007). Thus, the management quality, the ability to motivate teams, the capacity for mobilization and training are determining factors. He should be able to obtain fast concrete results and to be operational after only a few weeks. Thus, the Interim Manager only uses qualities that make his success during his entire career (Pompe & Brchot, 2008).

Result orientation The Interim Manager is focused on the benefit of the company instead of gaining personal influence. Moreover, the urgent need and the lack of time force the manager to find the best solution promising the best result expected by the client (AFMDT, 2010).

The ability to take risks

The Interim Manager should first be able to face the white period between two missions. Thus he should possess some financial security (Money available in bank, charges not high in term of loan, childrens background) in order to face the irregularity of the salary. The Interim Managers profession is lucrative but not regular. But compared to a normal leader who risks being fired in case of fusion, acquisition, reorganisation, shareholders change the insecurity of the Interim Manager who possesses bigger freedom is finally not higher than him. Moreover, the confirmed Interim Manager discovers that the market offers a number of missions which are really lucrative (Coudray, 2007).

24

Capacity of adaptability

Companies using Interim Managers are in situations where the need is urgent. Thus the Interim Manager should be instantly operational. He also should be able to adapt himself to a new environment, situation, sector, team, which require a psychological and pedagogical strength as well as a real strength of conviction (Bancaud, 2009).

Mobility

Mobility is essential because missions could take place all over the world. Interim Managers should enjoy good physical and moral health because it is an endurance sprint (Catta, 2004). A big majority of Managers declare themselves mobile at the national and/or international level. Indeed, thanks to the emancipation of their children who are no longer dependent on their parents, they more easily accept to be far away from home. In the field, missions abroad are not the rule but should always stay as a possibility that an Interim Manager has to accept in order to get missions more easily (Carpentier, 2009).

What is your degree of mobility ?

YES

DNP 0 20 40 60 80 100

National mobility

International mobility

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

Thus, the Interim Manager is employed to make things happen to get fast results. Lots of qualities expected that justify his substantial payment composed of one variable part depending on the achievement of goals (Templier, 2010).

25

We have built a specific profile of Interim Managers according to the data we collected. However it is hard to standardize the skills. In fact the characteristics described above concern the typical profile of an Interim Manager. Nevertheless this profession concern various sectors and differs when it comes to the objectives. Therefore each Interim Manager is required to adapt its aptitudes depending on each situation. b) Recruitment comparison It is important to give the reader some background information that shows the Interim Management as a concept that differentiates itself from the other tools available to companies. Consultant : A consultants mission is to analyse a problem facing an organisation and to bring some solutions or recommendations based on diagnosis, expertise, benchmarking. However, he will bring theories and methods without participating on an operational level to the resolution of the problem. He works on the long-term strategy of the company by being an external actor (Coudray, 2007).

Intern resources: For a variety of reasons, Intern resources could not be the right solution. Some of them may already be busy with their everyday work and therefore unavailable for a special mission. Others do not possess the necessary knowledge to take charge of the mission or do not want to take charge of a mission with high level of risk for the firm. Moreover, they could be influenced by the political environment of the company (Coudray, 2007).

Classical recruitment: Recruitment is often necessary but still remains a long and expensive operation that does not offer in the short term the reactivity and the availability expected for a certain mission. Moreover, classical recruitment will employ an executive who should integrate himself into the firm without creating mistakes and where the goal is to fill a vacant position for the long run. In 90% of cases, the recruitment targeted by candidates is already in position in the company (Coudray, 2007). Executive Interim: The Executive Interim simply allows to hold on to a position or to replace a vacant position (Sve, 2009). The Executive Interim will do everything to integrate himself into the new organisation without either disturbing it or taking risks expected by the company. He will not disturb the current habits of the company even if they are unproductive in order to transform his temporary replacement into an open-ended contract (Calbry, 2008). Actually, companies apply to an executive interim for a temporary replacement, a punctual
26

need of excess staff or pre replacement and always for a common need of the company. In Interim, we take the job to give it back as it was before (Lamotte, 2009). Interim Managers: Contrary to the different types described above, the Interim Manager is without past or future in the client company. He might disappear after having reached objectives (Coudray, 2007). He has a project, a mission for 6 to 18 months - sometimes more longer than Executive Interims that correspond to an exceptional situation where an overqualified profile is required (Calbry, 2008). According to the French Organisation of the Interim Management (AFMDT, 2010) he is integrated into the existing teams and possesses then management responsibilities that cannot be given to consultants. He has a completely operational role having a hands-on approach which means that he does not only give advice to the managing board, but also puts it into action. He is there neither to give advice according to a specific method nor to sell hours of presence (Sve, 2009). Interim Management is much more than temporary replacement or reinforcement of personnel. There are no expectations to ensure the continuity of the companys usual activity in cases of prolonged absence of an executive but are asked to hold on a position for exceptional situations in collaboration with is provider (if he is not an independent). Thus, the Interim Management is a unique concept that is different from the Executive Interim and the consultant even if there are some similarities (AFMDT, 2010). Consultancy and Interim Managers are often complementary services (Calbry, 2008). The Interim Manager can call upon a consultant team to realize an audit. Moreover, when the need is a classical one, companies call upon an Executive Interim or employ someone for a fixed term contract (Peillon, 2008).

4.3 Interim Management strenghts

The Interim Management allows certain advantages either for Managers who have decided to follow this new way of continuing their career but also for the company which calls upon Interim Managers (Coudray, 2007).

27

a) Interim Managers advantages - Why work as an interim manager?

Different reasons make people choose to work as Interim Managers such as (Coudray, 2007): Autonomy: Because the manager is out of internal politics and rules out any possibility of future career in the client company, he stays focused on doing his job and this by being autonomous. Projects: All the missions tackled are for a fixed term. This allows the manager to be in different working environment at any one time. Each project is unique and presents a new challenge for him. Personal development: Interim Managers want to be at the top of these possibilities in terms of technical expertise or interpersonal skills. Thanks to the variety of missions, he can constantly develop and perfect them in the field. Time management: According to these punctual missions, Interim Managers organize their schedule. Short-term missions allow them to enjoy some time off between two missions. Nevertheless, this presents also a risk of being out of work for periods longer than desired by the manager.

b) The necessity of using Interim Management

The use of Interim Management limits a variety of risks and accelerates the implementation of change (Coudray, 2007): -

To limit risks due to the temporary lack of executive

When teams are not complete or when there is temporary unavailability of one executive, even the recruitment time leads the firm to face a significant risk. So Interim Management strongly limits this risk. -

To limit risk due to change

Experiences show that it is often judicious to entrust the management of an organizational or cultural change to an external manager. Professional of change and without internal political

28

restraints, an Interim Manager avoids certain mistakes (sometimes with serious consequences) being made, accelerates evolution and makes reliable change. -

To limit risks due to crisis

When a crisis appears in a firm, whatever the type of crisis, it strongly increases risks. In periods of crisis, mistakes are not forgiving. Thus, using the help of the Interim Manager who can quickly analyse, make decisions, communicate perfectly and stay emotionally neutral help companies to solve the crisis or at least limits the consequences. To accelerate by making reliable the projects realisation.

Facing the growing complexity of a firms global environment (Legal, environmental, social, financial, technological, cultural) facing the necessary sharp increase of adaptations processes and facing the pressure on results, the income of an Interim Manager who possesses the operational how-know that the firm needs allow to both accelerate processes and, more importantly, secure them.

According to Martin (2009), Interim Management is not the last solution to use, it is a tool with big flexibility and efficiency that leaders can use to improve the operational achievements of the everyday life of a firm.

c) Clients advantages
Interim Managers are able to take charge of a team or a firm thanks to their leadership skills. Their position and status allow them to succeed with specific assets (Templier, 2010): Fast results

Usually, the Interim Manager becomes available and operational in few days. He personaly engages and invests himself in the success of the mission on time. A favourable position toward complex situations

No dependent but integrated in the firm, the Interim Manager benefits of a different freedom of expression and behaviour than the classical manager. This freedom allows him to accelerate the change. An experimented manager, a team leader
29

In a crisis or change situation, strong boundaries are always more psychological and behavioral than technical. His strong experience is then a determinant factor of success. Costs and budget controlled

The duration and the income of the mission are fixed at the beginning of the mission. Thus, the budget is known when the mission starts and is unlikely to change. Confidentiality

Interim Managers ensure the confidentiality of their interventions within the companies or organisations which called upon them. Honour, credibility and ethics are predominant. Adaptibility

During his professional life, the Interim Manager has often moved and has learned to adapt to a new context, sector, companys culture. He likes to discover and learn, he knows how to compare information and ideas. He is open-minded and does not relate anything to prefounded schemes. He brings an external view to the client. Technical expertise and/or sector knowledge

The Interim Manager makes the client benefit from his past knowledge, accumulated during all his profesional past experiences (Project management Expertise knowledge of an economic sector ) Flexibility

The interim Manager knows that the rule is to be flexible either for the start of the mission or its end or its duration. To answer to the need of the client, he knows to modify his personal plan to ensure the success of a specific mission

d) Surplus value of Interim Managers

To do and not only to advise

To face exceptional situations, companies can call upon external consultants. Such consultants bring up their external views, pertinent diagnostics and recommendations but the situation can become complicated when it is time to implement these recommendations. Totally integrated in the firm, with a fully operational role and completely focused on the firms interests, the
30

Interim Manager will directly act in the field with the help of the firms resources. Thus, the Interim Manager is not only an advisor, but an acting leader who goes directly and personally from analyses into actions. He does not only bring methods and processes but he will also lead people and influence the firms results (Coudray, 2007). -

Neither past nor future in the firm

In reality, Interim Managers are not placed into companies to make a career. They have no past history in the firm, nor problems accumulated over the years with the hierarchy, nor someone else which could create trouble with their decisions. They are not coming to take someones position and are then better accepted than a simple recruitment that would trigger a potential positions evolution of people already in place in the firm. However, 10 to 20% of Interim Managers sign, at the end of their missions, an open-ended contract (Martin, 2009). -

Only focus on the goals given

Thanks to the punctual mission and the absence of internal rivalry, the Interim Manager will not waste time making politics. He will focus 100% of his energy on his mission, making things happen. No personal goals to distract the Interim Managers away from his professional goals (Coudray, 2007). -

Overqualified

In the majority of cases, the Interim Manager is overqualified for the mission offered. This presents two advantages (Coudray, 2007): - The first one is to maximize the projects success,

- The second one is to avoid the Interim Manager becoming an employee. An Interim Manager, who might consider taking the open fixed-term contract of a subsidiary of 200 people after having led more than 2000 people in the past, would be viewed as a demotion in his career and would damage his curriculum vitae. By contrast, he will gladly accept to take it as a re-launch mission of 6-9 months (Coudray, 2007).

31

Managerial skills

The first contribution of an Interim Manager is his capacity to manage a project, a team, a subsidiary efficiently. Integrated in the organization chart, he will directly have a control on the firms internal team. He directly imposes himself, motivates, animates, reassures, trains. He is a man who primarily likes to get results by making things happen (Coudray, 2007). -

Immediately operational

Immediately available and having already experienced similar types of mission, he goes if necessary into actions as soon as he get into position. At the same time he takes cognizance of the situation and launches the first implementation. This creates a real dynamic of change (Coudray, 2007). -

Capacity to go to the essential

Where the traditional consultant uses a systemic and exhaustive approach by analysing 100% of possibilities, the Interim Manager - thanks to his past experience - quickly identifies the 20% of actions which will allow 80% of the results. Focused on the essential, he saves a lot of time in obtaining results (Coudray, 2007).

e) Surplus value of the Interim Managers Services Providers

A superficial analysis could under-estimate the surplus value of the Interim Managers Services Providers which could be viewed as the simple fact of putting in touch the applier and the resource without seeing the quantity of work behind this. It seems so important to remember the surplus value which shows that this new phenomenon belongs to a real profession (Coudray, 2007). -

To ensure the appropriate resource

Its first goal is to ensure at the right time that the right man needed by the client takes charge of a mission. This means permanent work such as (Coudray, 2007):

- Identification of the candidate (network, communication, cooptation), - Qualification of the resource (interviews with few associate of the Interim Managers Services Providers, interviews of few referents),
32

- Initial database, - Permanent updating of the database - Selection of candidates when there is a need, - Introduction to the clients

Compared to traditional recruitment, the Interim Managers Services Providers ensure very quickly the resources needed while the traditional recruitment takes a few months. This rapidity is only possible thanks to the Interim Managers Services Providers which every day face new resources in order to have qualified and ready people always available. This rapidity of course involves certain costs (get some people on-board while knowing that some of them will never get a mission), but represents a real surplus value (Save time). -

The advice, the follow-up and the coaching of the provider

On each mission, one of the associate of the Interim Managers Services Providers brings a surplus value by his advice, his follow-up and his coaching: Before the mission, he analyses the situation of the client and helps him to formulate and qualify his need, playing an important role of advisor. He helps him to determine goals and schedule time, defines the good profile and realizes the good casting. During the mission, he ensures regularity with the client, the manager or both to ensure that everything is respected, that the intermediate goals wished for are accomplished. He is like a mirror for the manager and can help him to solve a missions difficult or complex step. If needed, the manager may be changed (This is actually very rare). At the end of the mission, he ensures that the goals have been achieved and that the changeover takes place in the best conditions so that all the work achieved has not been done for nothing. Sometimes after the mission, he will verify the satisfaction of the client by requesting feedback (Starkloff & Brire, 2010). -

The contractual guaranty and security

In addition to the information described above, the Interim Managers Services Provider gives the client his guaranty on the success of the mission. If there are difficulties during the mission, the rapid change of manager could be done for any reason (health issues, inadequate manager for the mission) and this without fee increase. It is because the Interim Managers Services Providers want to keep their reputation intact and their professional image that all the

33

necessary steps have to be taken to avoid failure or middle success. An Interim Manager acting as an independent cannot give such guaranty. Moreover, the Interim Manager Services Providers place missions into precise and safe contractual frames to the stakeholders with regard to its relations with the client as well as the manager. This frame ensures a contractual security with respect for the Legal and statutory requirements, notably in terms of labour law. Then, it gives a supplementary security toward the manager and the client, namely its insurance coverage covering its professional civil liability (Coudray, 2007). -

The benefit of a team

The Interim Managers Services Providers offer a multidisciplinary team to handle the client companys situation (AFMDT, 2010). Indeed, beyond the benefit of a manager, the client possesses the work of an entire team such as: - The associates of the Interim Manager Services Provider - The confirmed managers who regularly step into missions, who know, help each other and who share all the experiences they have had. - The professional and relational cumulated network of the associates. The client also benefits of the expertise, the good practices and the developed methodologies cumulated during all the missions done by the Interim Manager Services Providers, the associates as well as the managers. -

The flexibility

During the mission, the client has the possibility to interrupt the mission before the end or to decide to not extend the mission engaged for a short term. This freedom given to the client allows a total flexibility and allows him to not support the expenses related to the demobilization if he decides to put a stop to a mission. These surplus values mentioned above especially concern the client and sometimes for the Interim Manager, notably for the abundance of missions brought by the Interim Manager Services Providers (Carpentier, 2009). -

The provision of missions

When the mission is over, the manager sometimes forgets that he got the mission thanks to the commercial activities of the Interim Manager Services Providers and does not understand the Mark-up taken by them from the gross price given to the client. But the most serious managers know that it is difficult to do the mission at the same time as the commercial

34

activities and that between two missions, there could exist a long period of inactivity. Thanks to the Interim Managers Services Providers, Managers will find new missions more readily(Carpentier, 2009).

4.4 Contractual aspect

4.4.1 Contractual relation between the Interim Manager and the Provider
Four types of relation can exist between an Interim Managers Services Provider and an Interim Manager (Coudray, 2007):

- A contract of permanent employment, - A contract of temporary employment, - A relation of interim (Juridical), - A relation of partnership with an independent provider.

The type of relation between them is, in theory, neutral for the client but in reality it is not especially when the client does not know or cannot decide when the starting point of the mission and its duration are. Each one of these relation types has advantages and disadvantages for the Interim Manager Services Provider and sometimes for the client. It is important to evaluate the risks involved for each one and to identify the one that will be the more financially rewarding in order to choose the most appropriate status (Bancaud, 2009). -

A contract of permanent employment

A contract of permanent employment happens when the Interim Manager Services Provider has opted for an open-ended contract of employment for the managers. This has two advantages and one disadvantage. On the plus side: - They have access to a restraint team where the profile of each one is well known, - Allow the reactivity to ensure the right resource to the client. On the minus side: - It constitutes a high financial risk if the turnover decreases from one year to another and if the white period increases between two missions.

35

The benefit for the client will be that they get experienced managers well known to the Interim Manager Services Provider but, on another hand, the choice could be done from a short list and could sometimes not perfectly correspond to the needs of a given mission. Thus, the client has to deal with the safety of this system and the profile of the manager toward a certain mission. -

A contract of temporary employment

This option happens when the Interim Manager Services Provider has opted for a fixed-term contract of employment for the managers. Managers have been identified and selected for a given mission. This solution brings the advantage of limiting the period of payment to the duration of the mission. The necessity here is to get as large a database as possible. However, it is impossible to avoid the strict juridical aspects. Indeed, a fixed term contract is only possible in the cases enumerate by the labour law (Article L. 122-1) such as: the replacement of an employee, the temporary increase of activities, for a season job or when, in certain sectors, the open-ended contract is not possible due to the nature of the activity. The client has the possibility to extend this contract for 24 months duration and, theoretically, this extension does not have to be done more than one time. The manager is an employee of a provider and gets the status of a temporary employment. The Interim Manager Services Provider administers the managers contract of temporary employment with the client firm (AFMDT, 2010). -

A relation of Interim (Juridical)

This situation is when the Interim Manager Services Provider opts for the status of temporary work. For the client, this situation is the same as the one described above. For the Interim Manager Services Provider, this solution is almost the same as the Contract of temporary employment. Its inconvenience is that it is subject to the financial demands of the Interim status. It means that the agency has to guaranty the managers salaries. It is an additional financial security for the managers. Article L 124-1 of the labour law stipulates that Is an entrepreneur of temporary work, any natural or corporate body to which the exclusive activity is to give temporary of users of the employees, which according to an agreed qualification it hires and pays for that purpose. Three essential characteristics define it: An exclusive
36

activity, a temporary mission and a relation between the stakeholders such as: The interim firm, the client and the manager. During the mission, the manager is an employee of a provider who has taken the responsibilities for assignment and charges (AFMDT, 2010). -

A relation of partnership with an independent provider

This situation is when the manager has opted to be an independent worker placing himself in a relation of independent provider toward the Interim Manager Services Provider. This worker should be registered at the URSSAF (French Organism managing social security payments and funds) and practice his activity in a private capacity and in his name. The labour law is not applicable to him. For him, the individual firm presents the advantage of being easy to constitute. He will get a significant freedom of action but he will get limitless responsibilities in counter-part: his professional and personal capital will be merged. There is one variant of this type of situation such as the constitution of a commercial society such as a EURL or SARL (Type of French companies which allow the separation between professional and personal capital). Another variant exists, when the manager opts for an Umbrella Company (Portage Salarial). In that case, the Umbrella Company will charge the managers clients the fees the manager negotiated and will transfer them into the managers account in the form of salary. The manager benefits of the legal status of an employee (AFMDT, 2010). For the Umbrella Company, it is an easy solution with only few constraints, often used in Holland, Belgium and Anglo-Saxons countries.

4.4.2 Other contractual commitments between the Interim Manager and the Provider
Commitment of confidentiality: The manager has to sign a document of confidentiality concerning all information pertaining to the client.

Commitment of exclusive availability: Few Interim Manager Services Providers make managers sign an agreement of exclusive availability for a fixed-term.

37

Commitment: neither to accept to be introduced to a same client by another Interim Manager Services Provider for the same mission nor to contact the client directly; or to answer to a direct or indirect request from the client. (Coudray, 2007)

4.4.3 Relation between the Interim Manager Services Provider and the Client
The Interim Manager Services Provider is connected to the client by a contract of provision of services. This contract is more or less developed depending on the agencies, but here there are the current stipulations (Coudray, 2007):

- Appointment of the stakeholders, - The context of the mission, - The precise description of the mission, - The date of departure and the provisional duration of the mission, - The place of the mission, - The price, the payment terms and the travel expenses, - A stipulation on the Interim Manager Services Providers insurance, - A termination stipulation, - A stipulation of replacement in case of unavailability of manager, - A commitment of confidentiality, - A commitment of the client to neither directly or indirectly apply to a manager, nor to sign a provisional contract with him, counter-part exclusive, - In certain cases, a commitment of no concurrence (The stipulation should have a counterpart), - A stipulation reminding the communications obligation between stakeholders.

4.4.4 Fees charged and income

Depending on the status manager, the difference between the fees collected and the fees charged can be important. If the manager works for a specialized agency that provides the manager and ensures a follow-up during the mission, he will receive a salary from the agency after deductions done by the agency toward the client (Carpentier, 2009).

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Actually, between 120,000 and 150,000 Euros is the average annual income of Interim Managers. Then, according to his qualification, depending on the sector and the type of mission, earnings can vary. Nevertheless, his income is not below 80,000 Euros (Annual gross income) (Coudray, 2007).

The Interim Manager Services Providers fees needs to cover different costs such as: - Direct costs of the manager who will take charge of the mission, - Indirect costs of the agencys functioning: Head office, commercial, management and bureaucracy, - The agencys margin.

And others costs such as: - Important investments for recruiting to ensure both quality and reactivity, - The capacity of the agency to anticipate the managers failures, - The accompaniment of the agency during the duration of the mission, - The insurance of professional civil liability.

Then, the fees can vary depending on different criteria such as:

- The hierarchical positioning of the mission: Head office, Executive committee and others, - The legal, social or financial responsibilities: with or without mandate, staff, turnover or other financial criteria appropriated, - The complexity of the mission: social context, financial situation, internal conflicts - Localisation of the mission, - The rarity of the required skills, - The duration of the mission, - The rapidity of the beginning of the mission. Interim Managements missions are often more expensive than an basic Executive Interim mission because the emergency and the critical situation experienced by companies do not allow a missions failure (Dumoulin, 2008).

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4.4.5 Research of missions

The network is the first way (49%) used by managers to find missions. Then the Interim Managers Services Providers (37%) who are, historically, the most important way to bring missions. Then come, and far behind, the Interim agencies, the umbrella companies and the associations of managers who are either generalist or specialized (Finance, Human ressources...) (Carpentier, 2009).

Interim Agency

How do you find your future missions ?

Interim Manager Services Providers Umbrella company

2%4%
Other

49% 37% 7% 1%
Network

Interim Management association

Lemanagementdetransition.com, Carpentier, 2009

4.5 Steps / Phases / Mission development

Depending on the Interim Managers Services Providers, the numbers of steps for the ongoing process of an entire mission can vary between three and six steps. The one described below regroups all the necessary steps to ensure the client receives a good provision of a service (Coudray, 2007). Specify the need of the client

During this first step, the Interim Managers Services Provider and the client analyse both the situation of the company and the context of the mission in order to both specify the contents and the goals and determine the skills and competences needed to succeed. Then, the agency brings to the client its expertise and advice to formulate the context of the mission well.
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Finally, the client receives a proposal letter which describes the nature of the mission, the tasks, the responsabilities, the profile and the goals of the Interim Manager as well as a projected financial bill for the mission. Selection of the candidate

Based on the proposal letter, the Interim Manager Services Provider identifies and selects all the potentials candidates in a few days. To be selected, a candidate must be immediately available, operational and must possess a recognised and confirmed experience in relation with the mission given (Templier, 2010). Introduce candidates and determine the final Manager

Once the managers have been selected, they are introduced to the client (no more than two to three managers). It is the responsibility of the agency to ensure the integrity and the professionalism of the Managers introduced. For each candidate, a file is built on his skills and references and in relation with the mission. Thanks to this file and one interview with each candidate, the client finalises his choice. The whole process to the manager starting in the company has been done in almost two weeks while for a normal recruitment, two weeks will be just enough to write the functions description (Calbry, 2008). Build the contract

After having made the choice, the contract is established by the stakeholders. This specifies the legal and financial aspects of the mission and lists the tasks, the responsabilities, the goals and the results expected. Realisation of the mission and insure the follow-up

The Interim Manager in charge of the mission is introduced by the client to the key persons and the operating mode of the company. Then all the stakeholders precise the plan of action (Valtus, 2010), the different steps of the mission as well as the schedule that determine dates to control the quality and the ongoing process of the mission. This allows the client to control if the managers realisations are still in line with the missions goals and allows, if necessary, to reactualize the plan of action. Moreover, to be more successful, the Interim Managers Services Provider plays a role of coaching to support the manager by being near him in case of difficulties met during the mission. They verify if no internal or external pressures to the firm surround him as these could provoke a deviation from the mission's goals.
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Transition period and conclusion of the mission

The Interim Managers Services Provider insures the durability of actions done and results obtained by checking at the end of the mission that all information and data are well communicated to the next responsible appointed by the client. Finally, a statement could be done where all the data transmitted to the client will be listed.

4.6 Conclusion
According to Jol Templier (2010), nowadays, the management of companies succeeds thanks to the management of many projects and this vision combines at the same time the necessity for being stable as well as the need for change offered by the Interim Management. The globalization context is also one of the reasons why Interim Management appeared. Interim Management is a kind of revolution towards mentalities and management processes that incite stakeholders to behave differently. Some organizations allow to define specific roles and rules of the Interim Management that show this profession as a real one. Moreover, the strong relation between the agency specialized, the Managers and the clients is forecast to see a potential growth for the future. It should run well in a dynamic and interactive way in order to reinforce the necessary synergies to overcome steps of change. Thus, the Interim Management is a concept based on trust. A clear and precise context of the mission between the stakeholders, competent and confirmed Managers and a methodology of follow-up represent the keys to success for any mission (Coudray, 2007). According to the Interim Managers interviewed by lemanagementdetransition.com (2009), the big majority finds their profession very fulfilling and plan to carry on practising for many years even after having passed the age of retirement. They have a positive vision of this profession. Interim Management is also at the middle management level. A new wave of Interim Managers is coming into this profession with a younger profile but still competent in their domain. Depending on the type of mission, the need to have 15 or 20 years of experience is not necessarily required. Sales Managers, Logistics Managers and so on could be between 30 and 45 years old for example (Pompey, 2008).

Some threats defined above as a clear definition of the Interim Management can discourage companies from calling upon these new managers to solve an urgent and temporary need for specific competences. Thus, this Thesis as well as some organizations are already trying to give a clear and precise information on the reality of Interim Management (Carpentier, 2009).
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This chapter gave the reader a complete view of the Interim Management profession with the differences between it and the other tools available to companies, and the different and necessary skills needed to perform as an Interim Manager. All this information comes from the point of view of professionals acting in this area. It seems important for the reader to see how professionals of Interim Management consider their profession and how this information is spread into the different sources found. This description made from the data collected seems actually insufficient and we want to show concretely how this phenomenon happens in the field. Thus, by taking into consideration all the information described above including the leadership traits described in chapter three, we are going to complete them with the study of a real case that happened last year. This case will allow the reader to see if this case corroborates all the information found until now (Sve, 2009).

5 Case study
5.1 Case description
Maternity leave dilemma in company: Our case took place in Weishardt Group based in Grauhlet (France). Weishardt group is the 4th producer of gelatin in the world. They offer a large range of gelatin created from pig, bovine or fish skin. Their products are destined for pharmaceutical, edible or technical applications. The accountancy department of Weishardt in Grauhlet (France) needed a chief accountant. The former chief accountant was on maternity leave and she was unsure if she would return back to the company. It is important to contextualize this case. It happened in April 2009 in the core of the economic crisis. As Olivier Martineau, financial director of Weishardt in Grauhlet, told us the company did not have long-term vision; the future was dark and uncertain. Nevertheless, this department was in an emergency situation, they needed a temporary accounting manager without knowing how long they would need this interim manager. The flexibility and the reactivity combined with managerial skills and expertise in accountancy were the requirements in order to resolve some internal problems that were threatening this accountancy department.

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The mission was about continuity, but also change. There were two sides to the mission, on the one hand this was a project management (lead to change) but on the other hand the aim was to maintain the continuity of a department and to replace for a certain time the chief accountant.

5.2 Three actors

The client, the Weishardt group in Grauhlet is represented in this case by Olivier Martineau, the financial and administrator director. The provider is represented by the consultant in recruitment from Page Personnel named Damien Brossault. The interim manager specialized in accounting management is Murielle Veuriot.

Profile/Background of the Interim Manager, Murielle VEURIOT: Murielle Veuriot is a forty three years old woman and has already 23 years of work experience. She has got several experiences (around 3 years and half in each company).Step by step she evolved in her branch (accountancy). She worked in different fields of activity: Industry, Tourism, laboratoryThose different experiences allow her to learn and apply new ways of work, new methods in order to manage different missions. She already completed one mission in a position of interim manager. (BOUNGI export company of Soya).

5.3 Why Interim Management?

As Olivier Martineau told us, the chief accountant had a crucial position because an accounting manager is responsible for the fiscality and the accountancy for the company. The organization would not function without this position. As a consequence they needed a fast solution to replace the former chief accountant. Three possibilities could be identified by Weishardt in order to hire the new chief accountant. Internal resources: All the managers were already on task and therefore unavailable. To promote an internal accountant was not possible, because of the requirement for special competences. Furthermore it could become a problem if the former chief accountant would come back.

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Traditional recruitment: To recruit a chief accountant would take too long a time. The recruitment for Weishardt in Grauhlet was quite hard, because of the lack of attractiveness of the city Grauhlet. The geographical place of the company was considered a handicap for the applicants. Furthermore it would be a dilemma to end the contract and an expensive firing cost in case of an earlier comeback. Interim Management: this was the solution that the company Weishardt had chosen. Interim Management responds to the demand of flexibility as well as the need of reactivity. Page Personnel had already a list of potential interim managers available and had offered a fast response to the need. As the reader can see in the previous survey in the part Domain of intervention of an interim manager, 21% of the interim management missions are replacement (Carpentier, 2009).

5.4 Chronological briefing of the situation

The first meeting in February between Damien Brossault, the person in charge of the recruitment in Michael Page, and Murielle Veuriot, the interim manager, was in February 2009. In April 2009, Weishardt Grauhlet had contacted Page Personnel and asked for help to recruit an interim manager for the position of chief accountant. In June 2009, the process was accelerated because of the forthcoming leave by the former chief accountant. Murielle Veuriot met the Human Research manager of the Weishardt Group in Grauhlet. During this meeting she learned more about her future missions. During the same period she met the accounting manager (the person that she would replace), this first contact allowed her to know more details on her future position. Finally she met the CEO of the group; it was a classical interview (experiences, expectations etc...). She started her mission at the beginning of July 2009. The situation was quite urgent because the person that she had to replace was pregnant, so the person had to hand over her files before her maternity leave. This handing over of files had been done in emergency.

5.5 Analysis of the case a) Diagnosis phase

The diagnosis phase is about listing the particular specifications and the main goals defined by the financial director. The definition of the task was absolutely and Olivier Martineau had provided therefore the letter of mission for Murielle Veuriot. Her main missions as accounting
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manager were: Annual reporting, General accountancy and Tax system. The need was also to upgrade methods of work, establish better communication inside the team, and update files in running. Indeed the Interim Manager should establish communication between the three managers (general accountancy, auxiliary, and consolidation). The collaboration of these three branches was essential for financial management in order not to omit information. As Murielle Veuriot explained to us, for this task, confidence was definitely needed to reach the objectives. Knowledge, confidence and skills were not vain words, this was the truth. Confidence was explained in the previous part Necessary leadership skills and Murielle Veuriot had confirmed that theses competencies were required for leading the others. The quality and the challenge of this mission were the reasons for Murielle Veuriots acceptance of the mission. She said that knowing that the mission was limited changed her involvement and her strategy to lead the mission. The position proposed by the recruitment cabinet Michael Page was interesting (accounting manager for 6 months) because she had got carte blanche. She could apply her own rules, in other words she had full power in her field of action. There were no restrictions, no limitations from the top. The customer only defined his needs, the challenge proposed was interesting.

b) Observation phase
The first contact with the group was classical, brief presentation of key persons from the team. The average seniority was around 15 years. Companys culture was very strong. Employees had their own habits. It was difficult to introduce her rules, so her strategy was to do things slowly without scaring others. She observed her team in order to learn everyones habits and then step by step she introduced her advices and improved the quality and methods of teamwork. Nobody oversaw her during the integration of the group; she made her own adaptation. She observed, she learned and adapted herself to her team and moreover to the group. Beginnings were difficult because she had to learn and understand new software; new tools etcways of work were different from one company to another. The collaboration of people in her team was the most important thing to reach her goals, without them and their work she could not achieve success. As Murielle Veuriot said the adaptation was the key word for the first phase.

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c) Action phase
The main mission of an interim manager is to create a synergy between members of the team in order to lead his mission to success. For example, monthly reporting was never done, so she decided to ask help to the person in charge of this, she worked with her regularly, she improved the system, she created a contact and a synergy with this person and step by step this person began to do herself the monthly report without the help of the manager. She thought that she had made the choice but it was the leading and the following of the manager which guided her to make the choice. This was one of the missions of an interim manager, being independent, allowed to exercise her leadership in order not to waste time, and advanced in her strategic way. Murielle Veuriot said that she was free in her actions but she had to do regular reports to the CEO. There was no intervention from the recruitment cabinet Page Personel, just a classical call in order to know if everything was right. Olivier Martineau, the financial director defined the situation as confidence while monitoring. He was eager for critics and suggestions in order to improve and to make the department more performing.

d) Feedbacks

Feedback from Murielle Veuriot, interim manager: Main difficulties: Realization of objectives, confrontation with others departments, adaptation to the others. The only limit was that she could not go above decisions from the CEO; each problem was related to the CEO. She was free in her actions but in a delimited field. Humility, adaptation, observation had been the key concept at the beginning. Power had to be used with caution. Be tough with the smile, communication, explanations, never leave someone who does not understand, do not hesitate to explain things again and again. Show that their work has an incidence on yours. Keys of success for being a good interim manager: maturity, experiences, no fear of changes, be independent, adaptation, be reactive and efficient. Interim manager allow knowing that we never know! Each experience brings new skills and knowledge.
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Feedback from Olivier Martineau, financial director: Murielle Veuriot has brought her double competence, her expertise in accountancy and her managerial skills. Weishardt was looking for an accounting manager who would lead the accounting department to polyvalence. Each employee of the department must understand that he or she contributes to the company. His or her task is not isolated but has a huge impact on the company and on the work of the financial director. This was also a main mission of Murielle Veuriot and she succeeded. Now people understand better all the chain of accountancy and feel more proactive in the company. By recruiting Murielle Veuriot, Olivier Martineau was looking for innovation and modernity. He wanted her to obtain suggestions and propositions to improve the accounting department. Before Murielle Veuriot, it was more focusing only on task without thinking about development, improvement and change. Thanks to her profile and her many experiences, she brought news solutions and changed step by step the mindset in her department. Olivier Martineau had particularly appreciated the personality of Murielle which was direct and frank. Indeed in time of crisis, it is important to have feedback without detour. It is crucial to get the deep feelings; communication and transparency allow going ahead without forgetting mistakes become bigger.

5.6 Conclusion
Interim mission became a definitive mission. Indeed we saw in the previous part that ten to twenty percents of interim managers are hired and accept to stay in the company at the end of the mission (Martin, 2009). Murielle Veuriot had negotiated a new contract, a new salary, and a better position (General accountancy manager). As she said the challenge of this type of mission is the time limit. As the Manager knows that he has only 6 months to define his mission, he has to manage the time scheduled in order to reach the objectives. Interim management gives a sensation, a feeling of freedom. Thus, this chapter was devoted in a description of a case in order to show the reader how an Interim Manager holds on to his function within a company calling upon this kind of services. This case has given the reader the opportunity to see in practice the ongoing process of the implementation of an Interim Manager from the request of a company in need to the stage of the end of a mission. It was important for the reader to face a case study in order to get, in
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addition to the other information described all along this Thesis, a complete view of how it happens in the field. Until now, the reader has seen what kind of leadership traits a leader needs to ensure the success of his company, the description of the Interim Management thanks to the data found and the description of a recent case. These three last chapters will lead us to analyze them by giving the reader our own point of view of this phenomenon. Finally, we will draw our conclusion by giving some recommendations on other areas of research maybe needed to complete the understanding of this new profession.

6 General analysis
6.1 Introduction
Thus, this chapter will explain how the empirical study is linked to the theoretical aspects. The theoretical aspects concern information found in the leadership skills chapter as well as some information in the description of the Interim Management while the empirical study belongs to some elements of the Interim Management and the case study. Thus, this chapter is about how these different parts are linked together to see if any connections are possible between each and every one. Empirical data will be compared to the literature review in order to show similarities and differences. According to the structure and the content of our Thesis, the reader should anticipate our analysis and be prepared for what he is going to read. However, it is important to formulate this analysis to understand how we perceive Interim Management and its participants compared to the Leadership skills.

6.2 Interim Managers leadership skills

The following sections present the common aspects that link the leadership skills with the Interim Management description.

6.2.1 Interim Manager / Power

As we have seen in the theoretical aspect section, leaders need a certain amount of power to ensure that things are done. Employees sometimes need to be led powerfully to execute tasks that appear important for the health of the company. Nevertheless, power has to be used in

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special occasions. Indeed, the better power is the one used in critical situations where the need to react quickly is important to solve task objectives. We have highlighted that Interim Managers are called in by companies to hold a position of top management or middle-management. It implies that they are brought in to manage a team, small or big, to achieve some tasks using their specialist skills. They are in the majority of cases called in by companies which are in a situation of emergency where the need for acting quickly is required. Moreover, the Interim Manager employed is supposed to be an overqualified expert for the mission given. Thus, and thanks to his knowledge, the Interim Manager to accomplish his mission needs to use power to make people work as he wants to ensure the success of his given mission. Moreover, positions held by Interim Managers are mainly located at the top or middle management which provides them with the ability to use power. Thus, we can build a connection that as a leader needs a certain power to perform his functions, and an Interim Manager who can also use power in the exercise of his profession.

6.2.2 Interim Manager / Trust

The necessity to create trust within his team as well as being self-confident hold an important role for the leader who aims to implement and manage change. As it has been said, inspiring confidence and credibility will provide better chances in the process of change. Moreover, a leader who has a lot of successful missions in his background will get the trust of his team more easily. Thus, the role of a leader in terms of trust is crucial to maintain a climate of confidence in the organization. On the other hand, an Interim Manager who normally has faced other situations similar in some point to the next mission he is going to take charge of, should automatically inspire confidence from his future team. Moreover and as we said before, the Interim Manager is overqualified for the mission in order to limit the risk of failure, so it will reassure the client and the employees with whom he is going to work. At the same time, he will not be afraid of the new mission and this will reinforce his self-confidence. Thus, the trust that is important within an organization between the different stakeholders, is supposed to be naturally implemented by an Interim Manager. Therefore, a connection seems

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to appear between this important characteristic desirable in a leader and that which an Interim Manager could provide to his future client/team.

6.2.3 Interim Manager / Communication

Another aspect of the theory extracted from books insists on the importance of communication. This characteristic which is crucial to gain the support and the cooperation of co-workers often leads to important benefits. As it has been said, the two-way relationship of communication has to be ensured. Something affecting the organization is often the result of communication problems. So, communication seems to be important to anticipate potential problems and to ensure task objectives. Thanks to the data we collected, the communication skills of an Interim Manager seem to be necessary. The development of communication is often a task requested by the client in the mission letter. Moreover, an Interim Manager always integrates new structures, new rules and new teams. Therefore the process of implementation of interactive communication is the Interim Managers aim. The established communication allows him to understand better the new organization and to evaluate opportunities to resolve the dilemma in a faster way. Thus, a solid communications skill for a leader appears to be as important as for an Interim Manager. Without a doubt, an Interim Manager seems to need this skill in order to take charge of missions given by companies.

6.2.4 Interim Manager / Decision-making

According to authors, different consequences of things are the result of the decisions made previously. In the leadership skills chapter, the ability of leaders to take decisions and to implement them within the culture and the employees of the organization is a delicate issue but an important one. Leaders should know which appropriate and well-considered decisions to take in order to ensure success. Through our research, we have seen that Interim Managers integrate a company to develop a change, to solve a problem, to maintain an activity. Contrary to a Consultant who gives advice to a leader who then will decide to take decisions or not, the Interim Manager takes decisions that seem important for him to ensure his mission. Being a professional, who has experienced

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similar situations in the past, apparently facilitates his decision-making process and the implementation of these decisions. Thus, a leaders first job of is to take useful decisions that will provide results beneficial to his organization, similarly an Interim Manager has to take decisions which will result in the same benefits to the company he has integrated. A connection is then done between Leaders and Interim Managers who both have the obligation to take decisions.

6.2.5 Interim Manager / Adaptability and Flexibility

As we have seen previously, facing different situations such as new cultures, new colleagues, new processes of work, leaders have to be able to adapt to new situation. Moreover and as it has been explained in our theoretical skills chapter, leaders need to demonstrate to their collaborators their adaptability skills to help them move in the same direction. Now comparing with Interim Managers, it is quite easy to make the connection. By the nature of their function, Interim Managers have to be able to adapt to new situations. As we have seen, they are constantly moving from situation to situation. They jump from a company to another facing new people, new missions and new sectors. Moreover, companies are often calling for an Interim Manager in an emergency situation, so they need to be quickly available to the mission. The Interim Managers answer to the question of mobility is representative of their ability at being flexible (Carpentier, 2009). Thus, here the connection is clear; a leader as well as an Interim Manager needs to be able to adapt to the new context in which they are going to lead. This skill is important for a leader and essential for an Interim Manager.

6.2.6 Interim Manager / Technical skills

A leader often needs to be an expert in a certain domain in order to hold the function of leader. In order to take the right decisions, he needs to possess technical skills on a product, a sector, a process or a market in order to be able to conduct the teams direction. It became apparent from the data we collected, that the main desired characteristic for an Interim Manager is to possess technical skills. This technical skill is precisely what the client is expecting when calling upon the Interim Management services. An Interim Manager,
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depending on the mission, could be an expert in marketing, finance, merger and acquisition or an expert in company crisis and restructure for example. Thus, technical skills relation exists between leaders and Interim Managers. When leaders need them to conduct their team, create trust, take decisions, Interim Managers also need them to provide clients with the results expected. After having examined relations between the skills of the leader and those of the Interim Management, it seems even more relevant that Interim Managers should possess some leadership skills in order to ensure the success of their missions. Now, we are going to compare the case studied and the information that emerges from it with the description of the Interim Management in order to see the corroboration between them, and the analysis that we will draw.

6.3 The outcome of the case studied

All the characteristics and the information described in the Interim Management chapter have not been shown in the case studied. This case only represents a small part of the huge variety of cases that can be ensured by Interim Managers. Nevertheless, all the information we drew from this case corroborate the Interim Management description. We saw similarities on the steps leading up to a mission, the advantages for the client and the Interim Manager, and the different characteristics possessed by this Interim Manager. The reality in the field sometimes digresses from the theories. Here, in this case study, what happened in the field corresponds to what we found in both books and articles. The following sections describe the case elements that correspond with the Interim Management description.

6.3.1 Choice of Interim Management

Olivier Martineau, financial and administration director, considered the Interim Management a better tool in order to find a chief accountant for the vacant position. Internal workers were unavailable or did not have the necessary competences to ensure this vacant position. Traditional recruitment would have been too long a process to get the right person. So the Interim Management was the appropriate tool to limit the risks due to the lack of this executive.

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6.3.2 The profile of the Interim Manager

Murielle Veuriot had 23 years experience as a chief accountant in different companies and sectors and possessed the characteristics of an expert. She liked the independence and was not afraid of change. She knew how to adapt to new situations and possessed the real capacity for leadership and knew how communicate with people with whom she dealt.

6.3.3 Why work as an Interim Manager

According to Murielle Veuriot, this function provides certain autonomy and freedom in which she feels good. Moreover, thanks to the different context/industry she has dealt with, she has improved her personal development. She likes to know more of what is surrounding her and this function allows her to accomplish her wish. Moreover, and still according to Murielle Veuriot, the relation went from a relation with a boss to a relation with a client which considerably changed the workplace conditions and communication within the organization.

6.3.4 The different steps of the mission

First, the Interim Management Provider, Damien Brossault, met the client in order to ascertain the need. Muriel Veuriot was then introduced to the client and attended an interview. She began the mission by making a diagnosis then started acting. During the ongoing process of the mission, a few phone calls were made between the provider and Murielle Veuriot to see if everything was going well. The feedback was not that important in the end because Murielle Veuriot decided to stay indefinitely in the firm.

6.3.5 The client advantage

Olivier Martineau showed that the expertise, the managerial skills, the capacity for adaptability as well as the frankness shown by Murielle Veuriot were really impressive to him. He confirmed that all these characteristics had been keys factors in the success of his business and the smooth ongoing process of the mission.

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6.4 Case studied / Leadership skills

It is also important to show, according to the case studied, the points that are common to the leadership skills and to the case studied. We have seen in the case that Murielle Veuriot insisted on the importance of being adaptable to the new situation. This adaptability first began with the implementation of strong communication. At the beginning, it was hard for her, but thanks to this communication and her adaptability, she created trust between workers and herself. Moreover, her technical skills (Accounting management) helped her to create trust around her by showing people that she knew what she was talking about. Then, after having established a climate of confidence, step by step and with tact, she was able to use her power incumbent to her position. So, she finally took decisions in order to ensure the success of her mission. All these elements refer to the leadership skills described in chapter three. Thanks to these characteristics, Murielle Veuriot succeeded in her mission and finally decided to stay with the company at the end of her contract. Moreover, the position held by Interim Managers such as CRHO, sales manager, project managers does not exactly correspond to that of the CEO but still requires the ability to manage a team. These positions require leadership skills such as communication, adaptability and decision-making for example.

6.5 Several issues a) The Interim Managements recognizance

The threats concerning Interim Management such as the bad definition of this concept and the lack of regulation could be overcome by the number of cases such as the one we described to develop the recognition of this profession. However we notice that a few associations want to structure and create rules to border this concept.

b) Markets growth
As we said also, many companies perform or survive in the market without feeling the need to call upon the services of Interim Management. However, since this concept has been implanted into the market, there is almost 20% growth each year. It shows that Interim Managers succeed in finding customers to extend their profession (Starkloff & Briere, 2010).

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c) Projects mode
The market and more specifically companies, instead of being on the strategys continuity mode started to move to the development of projects mode and this in all company services. So if we calculate one more project per service, the number of leaders will normally proportionally grow. These project modes often need to be led by competent and experienced managers who are not always available internally. The Interim Manager could find his place in this market.

7 Conclusion
To conclude, it seems important to respond to the research question which consists to explain and depict the emerging concept of Interim Management. It seems that the Interim Managers gifts are not limited to the managerial experiences and the technical competences for which they have been chosen. Their energies and their ability to mobilize collaborators toward a common objective are at least as important. Their limited life cycle within the company gives them the freedom to impose what should be done without carrying the potential consequences on the future of the organization. Their missions are more than to ensure the continuity of a position. They become the actors of change and contribute to managerial structure flexibility which is a necessary precondition to the capacity for adaptation by companies. The professionals that we have interviewed and the books and articles we have reviewed suggest that Interim Management will continue to grow for various reasons. In France the demand of Interim Management will continue to increase. The French market for Interim Managers tends to become similar to that of other countries such as the United States due to the fact that some French companies are part of multinational groups. Furthermore their foreign shareholders or investors may already be aware of the Interim Management concept and they are ready to call for temporary leaders when needed. Corporate management is demanding more and more flexibility and reactivity, which gives room for the Interim Management sector to grow. The rapid turnover of leadership positions requires quickly a competent leader who can maintain the daily management of the company.

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The actual financial crisis is undermining top management; leaders may not be impartial enough to make the right decisions. Their businesses are in a threatened situation, and they may not have the necessary skills to resolve the dilemma. They need an expert, a manager who is able to implement projects to initiate change and make improvements within the company. The future hypothetical upturn of the economy may have the consequence that activities for companies grow suddenly. This sudden growth may trigger the development of the Interim Management business. Therefore companies will turn to Interim Managers in order to handle and to benefit from this growth. Interim Management may be a credible alternative in order to face the dilemma of managing the high number of baby-boomers in the company. The growing number of seniors jeopardizes their career in business, unless they have created their own jobs. Becoming an independent worker such as Interim Manager could be an opportunity for those seniors who are eager to share their huge knowledge and expertise. The profile of Interim Managers will also develop and step by step will start to be free from the stereotype of men over 50 years, who have lost their jobs and started their own business. Interim Management will become a real career opportunity, for young experts as well as seniors in their second half career. Progressively the business is extending to women as we have seen in our case study and it is already reaching the younger leaders who are specialized in a specific type of project. We feel that Interim Management has a promising future even though many companies achieved success without using this emerging type of management.

7.1 Recommendations for futures researches

Is there something more to add? Of course, there are a lot more to say about this broad subject Interim Management. In our thesis we choose to cover this topic under a large umbrella in order to depict the all phenomenon. We have had the chance to analyze only one case dealing with Interim Management, however many cases exist and are totally different even if the concept of Interim Management keeps the same principle. Indeed we are aware that each mission, each company and each Interim Manager is unique, therefore our aim was not to stereotype the profession of Interim Manager but to give to the reader all the keys concepts required in order to understand this emerging type of management.

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For the future researchers, we want to suggest two issues that could be developed in order to complete the topic and to know more about the deep details of Interim Management. Indeed when looking back to our thesis, we notice that once the overall phenomenon has been depicted what we have done in our thesis, it could be interesting to focus only in some part of the Interim Management. For example, in our thesis we choose to deal with the whole of Interim Manager no matter their position within the company (top management, middle management, project management). It could be relevant to focus on only one position as for example the top management and to explain the impact of Interim Manager Chief Executive Order on the company. As well as it is possible to analyze the topic of Interim Management and middle management. Last suggestion is to handle this multifaceted topic while focusing only on one field of mission of Interim Manager. As the reader has noticed in the chapter 4, Interim Management reaches many different domains of intervention such as reorganization, implementation of new information system, or merger and acquisition. Next investigation could focus on only one domain as for example Interim Management and the dirty job (restructuring plan, mass redundancy). Indeed thanks to the interview of Laurent Juery, director of Page Personnel (South West sector in France) that there are Interim Managers specialized in this kind of job. In perilous situations such as social redundancy plan, companies often call for an external managing help which could be an Interim Manager. This topic should be intriguing while dealing with current situations in a time of global financial crisis and observing the leadership skills required in time of crisis.

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Arbnor, I. & Bjerke, B. (2009), Methodology for creating business knowledge. 3.ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif. Sage. Calarco, A. & Gurvis, J. (2006), Adaptability: Responding Effectively to Change, Greensboro, Center for Creative Leadership. Deluc, A. (2008), Leadership et Confiance, 2.ed, Dunod. De Wit, B. & Meyer, R. (2003). Strategy, Process, Content, Context. An international perspective. Thomson. Drucker, P. (2001), The Essential Drucker, New-York, HarperCollins Publishers. Fisher, C. (2004), Researching and writing a dissertation for business students, Prentice Hall. Gustavsson, B. (2007), The Principles of Knowledge Creation, USA, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. (1999), The Knowing-Doing Gap; How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action, Boston, HBS. Pompe, C. & Brchot, R. (2008), Consultant : Trouvez vos premires missions; Dveloppez votre business, 2.ed France, Dunod. Rawat, V. (2009), Interim Management: Provision and Management Resources and Skills, India, Global India Publications. Rees, W.D. & Porter, C. (2001), Skills of Management, 5.ed England, Thomson Learning. Robbins, S. & DeCenzo, D. (2008), Management: Lessentiel des concepts et des pratiques, 6.ed, Paris, Pearson Education. Russell, D. & Daniell, I. (2005), Interim Management: The New Career Choice for Senior Managers, 2.ed, England, Aveton books.

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Dumoulin, S. (2008), Le management de transition se cherche un cadre, France, Le Nouvel Economiste.

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Websites AFMDT. (2009). Quest-ce que le Management de Transition ?. Available: http://www.afmdt-asso.org/. Last accessed 15 April 2010 Aswegen, I. (2009). The recruitment winds are changing are you keeping up? . Available: http://www.skillsportal.co.za/human_resource_management/recruitmentandselection/090819recruitment-flexibility-culture-careers.htm. Last accessed 16 April 2010 Graphics Carpentier, A. (2009). Les rsultats de lenqute. Available: http://www.lemanagementdetransition.com/info/etude_sur_le_management_de_transition.php Last accessed 7 April 2010

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